Recent Work

Some of my favorite stories I’ve written for The Washington Post and other publications.

POLITICS & SUSTAINABILITY

• What Paula Deen didn’t bring to the table, January, 22, 2012
What was missed in the outrage over Paula Deen’s admission that she has Type-2 diabetes was the opportunity for a serious, sensible debate about how we eat.

• The War on Pizza, February 14, 2011
The federal food policy take aim at the sacred slice — and pick a smart fight.

• Op-ed A new front in the culture wars: food, Nov. 27, 2010
People have to make finding and preparing fresh food a priority at a time when everything about our modern food system urges us not to bother. And that won’t happen if people think healthy food is an elitist plot to take away their McRib.

• A squeeze for tomato growers, April 29, 2009
Appalled by grim working conditions for farmworkers in the Florida tomato fields, Bon Appetit Management promised to boycott winter tomatoes if growers don’t change their ways. The threat is the latest salvo on a new front of the sustainable-food wars: social justice.

• Simplicity becomes a selling point, April 4, 2009
Michael Pollan recommends people steer clear of processed food with more than five ingredients. The ones taking it to heart? Food marketers who have quickly realized that simplicity sells.

• Go slow foodies, it’s the way to win, January 23, 2009
Food reformers want to fix, well, everything. To succeed in Washington, they need to focus their message and their ambitions.

• The CSA that isn’t one, January, 6, 2009
To spread the gospel of organic produce, one company is catering to the masses but keeping its core values.

• What’s in a number?, September 17, 2008
How the press got the idea that food travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate.

• In a trial run, Chipotle heads for the farm, March 2, 2008
Serving local pork at Chipotle was easier said than done. The company’s experiment is emblematic of the enormous hurdles that face national chains hoping to embrace the eat-local trend.

• Let them eat chicken December, 2008
When Chris Kimball founded Cook’s Illustrated, he broke all the industry rules. Now he’s beating the glossies at their own game. Has his scrappy, undeniably geeky enterprise in Brookline Village come up with a new recipe for successful magazines?

• Typos a la carte: Ever the specialty of the house, June 17, 2008
Most people have a superhero fantasy. In mine, I enter a restaurant, order and sweetly ask the waiter if I can “hold on to the menu” during dinner. Then, using a distinctive purple pen, I copy-edit the descriptions of the dishes.

For years, sustainable-food advocates and environmentalists have preached that businesses should “do the right thing” by investing in costly projects for the good of the planet that would, along the way, also lead to better-tasting food. BrightFarms isn’t relying on ethics or morality to drive its business.

• Turning teachers into gardeners, March, 2013
Enthusiasm for school gardens has reached a new high. DC Greens is showing teachers how to make their gardens grow.

• Shopping matters, February, 2013
It has become conventional wisdom that Americans don’t know how cook. But shopping for food, especially on a budget, is for many an equally daunting prospect. In a world where busy schedules mean that reheating a frozen pizza counts as cooking, shopping smart might be even more important.

• Beyond trayless dining, January, 2013
College students are taking on waste in the dining halls — and helping to feed the needy.

• Reinventing the CSA, February, 2012
Community supported agriculture has always catered to the most dedicated foodies. Now flexible models are sprouting up around the country that make it easier for busy families to get their money’s worth.

• The kimchi fix, January, 20, 2010
Since I made my first batch of kimchi several months ago, there has been only a single 13-day period when I haven’t had some in the fridge. They were 13 very long days.

• Trail of tiramisu, July 10, 2007
Did a pastry chef in Baltimore invent one of Italy’s most famous desserts?

• If it tastes good, it’s in Charlottesville, May 6, 2008
College towns are known for greasy pizza and late-night takeout. But in the city best known for Thomas Jefferson’s architecture, there’s sushi worthy of Nobu, rustic but transcendent tapas, plus standout bread, real espresso, artisan chocolate and locally brewed beer.

LOCAL INTEREST

• Frank Ruta: The best chef you’ve never heard of, October 20, 2010
He has won every industry accolade, from Food & Wine’s best new chef from to the James Beard for best Mid-Atlantic chef. But Ruta is the rare modern chef who prefers to be in the kitchen.

• Sometimes love means asking for separate menus, February 10, 2009
Food obsessives divide the world into two kinds of people: those who seek out truffles, sea urchin and single-estate chocolate, and those who don’t. And when an avid food lover falls for one of the others, life gets complicated.

• H is for happening, June 24, 2008
Independent, inexpensive and quirky are the hallmarks of the new restaurants on H Street in Northeast Washington.

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About Me

I am a Brooklyn-based food writer who covers food politics, trends and sustainability issues. My work appears in the Washington Post, (where I was a staff writer), the New York Times, Slate, New York magazine and other publications. On this site, you will find my blog and links to my written work and my Washington Post columns.